Ella's Story
by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps
Summary: As the children of some of the most famous mammals in Zootopia, Ridley and Ella have quite the pawprints to fill. They'll go about that in different ways, however, this...is Ella's story. Written by KOakaKO and is canon to One Hundred Kisses


**Ella's Story**

 **Written by** **KOakaKO**

 **Special announcements at the end**

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"Alright cadets!", the instructor shouted, looking up at the six-story concrete training tower. "That was ALMOST an acceptable carry time, but you seem to be improving! SLIGHTLY improving, but you need a LOT more work! Come down from there NOW and we'll take a half hour for lunch!"

The seven mammals looking at him from the roof of the tower seemed to all sag in relief just a little as they shouted in unison, "Sir! Yes, sir!"

They all started shuffling down the metal stairs, their red "ZFD" t-shirts mostly disshevled and soaked with sweat, leaving behind the bundles of fire hose they'd each carried quickly up the stairs to the roof. Last in line was the little grey rabbit who had impressed her fellow cadets that morning by hauling her roll of hose up to the roof as fast as any of the others, despite the fact that it was at least as big as she was.

The thing that had surprised everyone a few hours earlier was her ability to erect a long ladder against the wall of the fire department's training tower. Ella had dragged the ladder that weighed twice as much as she did up to the base of the building, then had lifted it rung-by-rung from the far end - not by using sheer strength, but by using sheer SPEED. She ran underneath it, pounding up on each rung until it swung up into place against the wall, then rapidly pulled the base out about ten feet to finish the job. Three of the other cadets tried to stifle their groans as they handed the only wolf on their team 5 dollar bills, while he just grinned and panted happily, his tongue lolling out one side of his muzzle.

But the workout of this morning's training activities was showing on all of them as they stumbled and shuffled over to the green wooden bench at the edge of the parking lot. In the shade of a large oak tree, they sat down with groans and sighs and a couple of yips and growls. Ella went to one end of the bench, tossing her backpack up to her seat before climbing up onto the bench herself. The young-looking cheetah sitting next to her appeared to be about her own age of 20. He glanced over at her briefly but busied himself digging around in his bag. He pulled out his fried cricket sandwich and a bottle of water before dropping the bag to the ground at his feet.

She breathed deep and sighed loudly, twisting her shoulders back and forth to get the sore kinks worked loose in her muscles. Then she unzipped her backpack and pulled out a sandwich that was almost the size of her own head, along with a bottle of water she set on the bench beside her. She carefully unwrapped one side and smiled, perking her ears up a bit, looking at the edge of a fish fillet covered with fried crickets that had carrot sticks added all through the middle.

Ella quietly said to herself, "Nobody makes these as good as Mom does." She leaned forward and took a large bite, then looked down at the concrete parking lot under the bench - just chewing on some thoughts of the training exercises from this morning the same way she was on her brief lunch respite. She was still a bit concerned at the way she'd almost tripped on the third story while hauling her hose up the stairs, and was determined that she wouldn't make that mistake again.

After a minute or so of being lost in her thoughts, she couldn't help but notice the absolute silence and stillness of the big cat beside her. She looked over and up at her fellow cadet, who seemed to be frozen in time - looking down at her and flicking a glance now and then at the sandwich in her paws, his ears twitching slightly in what seemed to be disordered confusion.

"Terry, wasn't it?" She said, holding up her paw for a quick clasp and shake. "You seem shocked by something as ordinary as a lunch break. Should I nickname you 'stunned', or did you have a question in your head?" After a brief pause he took her tiny paw in his own and give it a brief shake up and down.

The lanky cheetah seemed at a loss for words for a few moments, glancing around and back down at her. He cleared his throat and said, "Um... well... I, uh... I've just never seen a rabbit eating a fish and cricket sandwich before. With carrots." He dropped his ears back and widened his eyes, seeming a bit startled by what he'd said, and quickly stated, "Uh... not that there's anything wrong with that!" He glanced around the parking lot again, and back to Ella, saying quietly, "It just seemed a bit unusual, that's all."

He quickly took a bite of his own crunchy cricket sandwich and seemed to shrink a little, while staring at his paws and madly twitching the tip of his long tail.

Ella stifled the giggle that wanted to escape from her muzzle, though she couldn't hold back a quiet little snort. Taking a hefty drink from her water bottle, she looked back up at the nervous cat, leaning her ears to one side, and said, "Well I probably AM a bit unusual, I suppose. Not many people here know, but my Dad is a fox." She took another bite and watched him from the side of her eyes to see how he reacted to that comment.

Terry sat up straighter as he chewed for a bit and took a drink from his own water bottle. He looked back down at the bunny, his ears standing high, and said, "You mean, like, your step-dad or something?" Then he suddenly looked away, flattening his ears and dropping his tail to the ground, saying, "Oh! I'm sorry... that's really none of my business..." He took another bite, looking all around like maybe he could escape from his own words.

Ella just smiled again, perking her ears up, and said, "No, I mean my biological father." Terrry looked at her again, his eyebrows up high and his eyes as wide as they would go. She just looked up at him, pulling her lips back in a big toothy grin showing off her tiny canine teeth before taking another big bite and chewing, still looking up at him with an amused smirk.

The tall cat seemed to be frozen again, not even twitching a whisker, his muzzle hanging open just a bit. He still hadn't moved by the time Ella took another drink, so she leaned over a bit and poked him on his fuzzy arm, saying, "Hey, big guy. You alright in there?" She was smiling up at him in a friendly way, and thinking how funny it was when she got this reaction. To her it was just normal, everyday life - but it seemed to cause the strangest behavior in some other mammals.

Terry blinked rapidly a few times, leaning his ears out to the sides, and said, "Uh... okay. Um... I didn't even know that was possible for a... fox. Uh..." Again, he seemed to droop and shrink back, looking down at his paws. "I'm sorry. You must think I'm an idiot. I really don't have any business asking about your personal life." He took another bite and seemed to concentrate on the concrete between his feet as he crunched his fried crickets slowly.

Ella let out a small sigh and patted his arm, saying, "That's okay, Terry. It is a bit unusual. Mom says it was one chance in a billion, and I suppose maybe it was. But just imagine the reaction my brother Ridley gets when he's eating a carrot and cucumber salad at the college cafeteria. He's my twin brother, but he's also a fox."

She tried to stifle her giggle again, but some of it escaped. She half-expected the tall cat to be frozen in shock again, but instead he seemed to be fumbling with his water bottle as if he'd forgotten how to remove the cap on it. He mumbled, "Well, if he's half the mammal you are then I imagine he's quite good at whatever it is he's doing..."

She took another drink and sighed, saying, "He's keeping his grades up, but I worry about him sometimes. If he'd stop flouncing about the campus like the half-bunny he is and actually FOCUS on what he's doing then Mom and Dad wouldn't be so worried about him all the time." Dropping her ears flat down her back, she stared for a minute out at the street in front of the training center - watching as a couple of giraffes drove by laughing about something, seeming as if they knew where they were going and what they were going to do there.

"It just seems as if Ridley doesn't know where he's going, or what he's going to do when he gets there. Sometimes he just seems to be floating on the breeze and doesn't care where it takes him. I... I worry about him, that's all." She shook her head to clear her mind of stray thoughts and took another bite, still staring out at the street.

Terry set his water bottle down again and nodded, not seeming to notice that the rabbit's thoughts were a long distance away. "Yeah, that sounds a lot like my little brother. He's still in high school, but he doesn't seem to care about what he's supposed to be studying. He just acts like it's all a big vacation, and I worry that he may get held back a grade. Heck, he hasn't even climbed a tree since he was 10 years old." With that, he sighed and started staring out at the street as Ella was doing.

She cocked her head to the side and thought, "Tree?" But she shook her head again, flapping her ears about, and decided it must be a 'cat' thing.

She patted Terry's furry arm again, looking up at his pondering expression, and said, "I guess that must be a common thing among all species, then. Worrying about little brothers who can't get their heads out of the clouds." She half-giggled again and asked, "So what brings you to the ZFD cadet training program, Terry?" She put the last of her fish-carrot-cricket sandwich in her mouth and crunched on it, looking up at him and wondering what he would say.

Some of the cadets seemed to be there to prove something to themselves. Others seemed to be there to prove something to somebody else. She knew why she was here, because her Mom had instilled in her a feeling that every mammal should do what they could to make the world a better place, but Terry didn't seem as though he was trying to prove anything. He just seemed to be putting his muzzle to the grindstone to do the best he could at their training exercises.

The young cheetah kept staring out at the road for a minute, and Ella wondered if he'd heard her question, but he kept that pose while he quietly answered, "I decided 6 years ago that if I could help keep other mammals alive then it would be a good thing to do with my life." She dropped her ears again at the suddenly serious answer and looked up toward his face as he shook his head rapidly, fluffing out all the fur around his neck.

He glanced down at her again, "That was when neighbor's house caught fire one night. I only woke up when the ZFD's sirens stopped in front of our house. I could only watch from my bedroom window, but I saw how all of them ran straight into the danger. They tried, so hard, to save the Wolframs... but... it..." He shuddered, and seemed to droop all over. "They were just a minute too late. Steve was my best friend, and... they couldn't... the smoke inhalation was too bad, and..."

He shuddered all over and shook his head quickly, settling back a little and squeezing his face tight. Ella put her paw back on his arm but left it there this time, squeezing tight, and closing her open mouth to give him a serious and determined look. "It's okay, Terry. I understand. There's a reason why the city needs us to do what we're training to do."

He looked down at her again, with a faint hint of a smile on his muzzle. "Well, that was a long time ago. So I suppose I've had time to come to terms with it. And... is that anything similar to why you're here, Ella?"

She drooped back down and dropped her paws into her lap, looking down at them and taking a deep breath. "I've... lost... people who were close to us. My family, that is. But I really just want to help people. Help the city. Prevent the... bad things that can happen." She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes wide. "Mom and Dad have done so much for everyone who lives here, and... I just want to live up to their example. If... you know what I mean." She looked down at her paws again, saying, "But I don't suppose you would know. We've just met today."

Terry cut off a sharp intake of breath, arching up and sitting higher but still looking straight at her. "You're...! That's...! Umm..." His tail started twitching madly again. "Your parents are officers with the ZPD, aren't they?" His ears starting twitching that uncoordinated dance again, but as she looked up his eyes locked onto hers.

She seemed to sag back a little, making herself smaller - though he didn't understand why. She didn't frown, but she wasn't smiling either as she said, "I suppose you've figured out what my last name is then, haven't you?" She looked down at her paws again and flopped her ears out to the sides of her head, stating, "It's really hard, sometimes, when some mammals decide that I have such large accomplishments to live up to. It's like facing a running trail that goes right up a mountain and being told you're expected to break records on the first try, not because of what I'VE done - but because of my parents."

She sighed deeply, again, but Terry put his paw on her shoulder and patted it a couple of times, chuckling. "That's okay, Ella. Seeing the way you can throw a ladder that weighs more than you do up against a wall just proves that you can make good things happen on your own. Whether or not your name is Wilde-Hopps. I think you even did that faster than I did!"

She smiled and looked up at him again, perking her ears up high in the process. "Thanks, Terry. No matter what else happens, I DO actually plan to make the world a better place."

"CADETS! DO you plan to SIT there for the rest of the afternoon, or DO you plan to make yourselves worthy of the ZFD some time soon!?", shouted their instructor. "YOU LOT have left a lot of VALUABLE gear on the roof of that building, and I expect to see my equipment down here and stacked together in an ORDERLY fashion in FIVE MINUTES! GO, GO, GO! Don't wait for an invitation, GO! NOW!"

All the cadets were scrambling to get off the bench and start running for the tower, but Ella had shot away like a bolt of lightning and reached the entrance door 30 feet in front of any of the others, even the speedy cheetah. But as she hit the first of the stair steps with a slamming bounce, she had a smile on her face as big as a certain cat she felt she could call a friend now. It was the first time in the entire training program that she actually felt like she was part of a team, rather than just trying to prove she could handle the job.

Terry zipped through the door behind her and hit the stairs at a full run. His feet were sure, and fast, but his heart took a sudden stumble and flutter as he watched a certain bunny tail make a quick flicker as it turned the corner and headed up the next flight of stairs. He had a big smile on his face as well, as he thought, "This is going to be a MUCH more interesting training course than I thought it would be..."

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 **AN: This story was written by KOakaKO for me and I absolutely fell in love with it. Thus, I proclaim this as Canon to One Hundred Kisses.**

 **Also, this is being posted in celebration of "One Hundred Kisses" hitting ONE MILLION PAGE VIEWS! Seriously, I am humbled beyond belief that you guys have enjoyed this story that much. When I began it, I thought it might break a few thousand, if I were lucky, maybe ten thousand and a few favs like my older stories had done. But I have been never imagined and have been positively overwhelmed by your response, and just want to thank everyone again for helping me through finishing that story. I've heard so many wonderful stories from so many of you on how OHK has affected you in your lives, or what good it has brought you. Each of these brings such joy to my heart, and helps me to want to write more just in case I can continue to bring that happiness to each of you in the small way that I can.**

 **So again, thank you. *tries and fails at not crying* And a special thanks again to KOakaKO for writing this wonderful chapter. Please let them know how you feel about it, and thank them for this wonderful one shot. Lots of talent here, so keep up the great work KOakaKO!**

 **Now to go and write some more for all of you, so even more happiness can populate this planet and maybe convince a few more folks of how amazing WildeHopps fluff is. XD**


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